CABI TOURISM TEXTS
2nd Edition
Tourism Information
Technology
PIERRE J. BENCKENDORFF
PAULINE J. SHELDON
DANIEL R. FESENMAIER
COMPLIMENTARY TEACHING
MATERIALS
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Chapter 4
The Internet and the Tourist
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Chapter 4 Learning Objectives
After studying this chapter you should be able to:
1. understand the historical evolution and key terms
related to the Internet;
2. explain how the Internet can be used by travelers and
travel organizations and categorize different types of
travel sites found on the Internet;
3. explain the online information search process and
analyze the factors that influence search rankings and
online search behavior; and
4. apply an understanding of communications, marketing
and user experience design to the development of
successful tourism websites.
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Key Concepts
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Internet Service Provider (ISP)
Servers and firewalls
Intranet, extranet, Internet
World Wide Web (WWW)
Web 2.0
Domains, protocols, languages, formats
eCommerce
Search engine reply page (SERP)
Search engine optimization (SEO) and metatags
Intelligent agents and recommender systems
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Evolution of the Internet
Six Degrees (SNS),
Google Search
Ethernet
ARPANet
SITA
1969
Email
Domain name
1980
Internet
World Wide
Web
Web crawlers
YouTube
LinkedIn
1990
First ISP
Pinterest
2000
Mosaic
browser
Paypal
Hotmail,
Broadband
2010
Twitter
Facebook,
Skype
Google+
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80%
Developed Countries
70%
Developing Countries
60%
All Countries
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
1997
1999
2001
2003
2005
2007
2009
2011
2013
FIGURE 4.1 Percentages of internet users in the world.
Source: International Telecommunication Union (2013)
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EXTRANET
Public
Suppliers
Partners
VPN/
firewall
Remote users
(VPN client)
INTERNET
VPN/
firewall
INTRANET
Databases
Wireless
devices
Server
Printer | fax
scanner
Workstations
FIGURE 4.2 Internet, intranet and extranet configuration.
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Top Level Domain Names
Domain
Description
.edu
Educational institutions
.com
Commercial institutions
.org
Organizations
.net
Networked organizations
.gov
Governmental organizations
.mil
Military organizations
.travel
Travel organizations
.au
Country domains, in this case Australia
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Protocols
Protocol Description
TCP/IP
Transmission control protocol/Internet protocol
SMTP
Simple mail transfer protocol
EDI
Electronic data interchange
FTP
File transfer protocol
HTTP
Hypertext transfer protocol
HTTPS
Hypertext transfer protocol secure
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Common Languages and Formats
Format Description
HTML
XML
SMIL
Hypertext Markup Language
Extensible Markup Language
Java
Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language
Environment for running online applications
MP3
Music and audio format
Flash
Interactive media format developed by Adobe
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Functionality of Travel Websites
 Global information dissemination
 Integration
 Mass customization
 Interactive communication
 Transactional support
 Disintermediation
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Types of E-Commerce in Tourism
Term Description
B2C
Example
Business to consumer
G2C
A traveler purchases a flight on
Lufthansa’s website
Business to business
A tour operator purchases a block of
rooms from a hotel using the Internet
Consumer to business
A tourist offers their services as an
attorney to a hotel where they are staying
Consumer to consumer
A tourist sells souvenirs to another tourist
on eBay
Government to consumer A tourist applies for a passport online
G2B
Government to business
G2G
Government to
government
B2B
C2B
C2C
A museum applies for a building permit to
a government agency online
Two governments negotiate a bilateral air
service agreement using the Internet
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A Typology of Travel Websites
Category
Travel intermediaries
Travel suppliers
Social media
Online travel portals
Online travel guides
Trip planning
Destinations
Examples
expedia.com, kayak.com
ihg.com, singaporeair.com
tripadvisor.com, travelpod.com, wikitravel.org
virtualtourist.com
lonelyplanet.com, frommers.com
uptrip.com, mygola.com
Government
tourism.gov.in, smartraveller.gov.au, usa.embassy.gov.au
australia.com, tourism.australia.com,
visit-queensland.com, visitbrisbane.com.au
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PAID LISTING
KNOWLEDGE GRAPH
ORGANIC LISTING
FIGURE 4.3 Google SERP for “New York”.
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Determinants of SERP Rankings
1. Whether or not the keywords are in the URL
of that page.
2. The frequency and size of the keywords on
a webpage.
3. The keywords in the link anchor text (those
pieces of text which contain a link).
4. Alternative text for images.
5. Metatags, keywords in titles and
descriptions embedded on a webpage.
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PAID LISTINGS
GOOGLE MAPS
HOTELFINDER
GOOGLE MAPS
PAID LISTINGS
ORGANIC LISTINGS
FIGURE 4.4 Google SERP for “New York Hotels”.
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Pre-search
conditions
Search
process
 Information
search activities
 Usefulness of
Internet tools
 Use of search
engine for travel
planning
 First planning
task
 Task specificity
 Search queries
 SERPs
evaluation
Overall
evaluation
 Overall
satisfaction
 Ease of use
 Plan quality
 Trust
FIGURE 4.5 A general framework of search engine use for travel planning.
Source: Fesenmaier, Xiang, Pan, and Law (2011). 17
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C
C
O
Content
Medium
C
C
C
FIGURE 4.6 Traditional one-to-many marketing communications
model.
Adapted from Hoffman and Novak (1996)
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O
Content
C
Medium
Content
O
Content
O
O
Content
C
C
C
FIGURE 4.7 Marketing communications in computer-mediated environments.
Adapted from Hoffman and Novak (1996)
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Elements of Successful Tourism Websites
Planning
• Strategies and goals
• Integrated marketing communications
Evaluation
Design
• Usability
• Utility
• Navigation & interaction
• Aesthetics & functionality
• Cross-platform compatibility
Management
Delivery
• Maintenance
• Resourcing
• Generate traffic & repeat visitors
• Readability, credibility, accuracy
• Personalization
• Marketing mix
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Marketing Mix and Travel Websites
Product
Partnerships
Packaging
Price
Website
Elements
Programing
Promotion
Point-of-sale
People
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Discussion Questions
1. Identify a travel enterprise that uses an Intranet. What features does it
provide? Can you suggest other ways that the enterprise could use the
Intranet?
2. Find one specific example each of a G2G, G2B and G2C networks in the
tourism industry. Explain in detail.
3. In this chapter we present a typology of travel websites. Conduct a search to
find your own examples of sites for each category. Were there any sites that
do not fit into this typology?
4. Identify two search engines (e.g. Bing and Google) and compare and
contrast how they deal with travel requests. Do this by choosing a specific
trip you would like to go on.
5. We have presented a number of elements that make tourism websites
successful. Visit the travel website for your local region and conduct your
own assessment of the quality of this website based on the elements we
have presented. Prepare a set of recommendations to improve this website.
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Useful Websites
The Search Engine List
www.thesearchenginelist.com
The Internet Society
www.internetsociety.org
Search Engine Land
http://searchengineland.com
ICANN
www.icann.org
E-Tourism Frontiers
www.e-tourismfrontiers.com
WWW Consortium (W3C)
www.w3.org
Nielsen Norman Group
www.nngroup.com/articles
Google
www.google.com
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Case Study AirBnB
 Launched 2007.
 Consumer-to-consumer (C2C) travel website.
 People can list, discover and book unique
accommodations around the world - typically entire
homes or apartments or spaces in residents’ homes.
 Over 500,000 options listed in 192 countries (2014).
 Trust and Security:
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Hosts & guests can connect on social media
Reviews and profiles of hosts
Minimum hospitality standards for hosts
Private feedback mechanisms
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